Playing the Favorite
by not for granted
Summary: When the friendships between Seven of the Prophecy collapse, and a war still rages, Aphrodite still plays her games. Of course she's looking out for her daughter's best interests, but a goddess has to have her fun. And there was a reason Piper was her favorite... Severely AU.


_My apologies for taking so damn long to respond to this prompt, my life catches up with me. But I do deliver on my promises. Enjoy!_

_Ω_

There was a reason Piper was Aphrodite's favorite.

_First, she was used. There was Octavian, whispering poison in her ear at New Rome, fingers spindly like a spider's legs and as sticky as its web. "Look at them" he said, referring of course to Jason and Reyna, both looking proud and stately in purple. And with Octavian's whispers in her ears, she could see them falling in love too… and in bed… in Reyna's tent or in the baths-_

_It was a mistake, ever listening to Octavian, to ever lie to herself and pretend his hands on her could ever feel right. It was a mistake to hold a grudge close to her heart and let it fester, boil, until it burst like a zit under pressure. _

_Jason would still be alive if it wasn't for her petty jealousy. _

It wasn't just looks… though, fine, looks totally played a part in why Piper was one of her favorites.

It was the way she carried herself with her looks. She never doubted in her beauty. She resented it, maybe she wished different, but she always knew she was beautiful and acted accordingly. After years of being bullied and teased by girls who flaunted their looks more shamelessly, the tacky bitches, Piper knew first-hand how beauty could intimidate.

That was what helped her hold her head high as she approached the campsite of Artemis and the Hunt, charming the wolves into meekly letting her through, and asking (demanding really) a chance to prove herself worthy.

_No one trusted her after Octavian. They had no good reason to, as she broke Jason's heart, sabotaged his relationship with Reyna, as well as the group dynamics of the Seven. They argued, they fought with each other. Hazel was all for forgiveness and Leo sided with her. Percy and Frank just wished to save the world, while Jason couldn't look past his own hurt. Annabeth suggested she stay behind and act as a mediator to the Camps._

_Never mind how Piper felt like she couldn't keep her friends about her without Charmspeak, let alone two hostile groups of demigods. They shouldered on, regardless of personal feelings, trying to make sense of whatever Gaea would throw at them. They still weren't prepared, and they were still disorganized. Jason refused to work with her, covered their retreat himself. Fire, arrows, a mountain crumbling down, and Jason Grace paid the price for her shallow wants. _

_Jason was lost, presumed dead. Without an Ambassador to Hades, they had no way of knowing if he could have survived, if he might be held hostage somewhere. Piper thought she'd never hate anyone more than Octavian when he 'humbly' accepted the praetor's purple robe around his narrow shoulders. _

_When she looked herself in a mirror, she found who she really hated. _

_And Piper realized she had to wash away her transgressions. She needed to make sure that she could love herself looking in a mirror again. _

There was a trial-run, where she was shown how to hunt with a bow.

Thalia Grace, who was once friendly with her, was now a bitter enemy. She was relentlessly beaten at every attempt to prove she was as apt at archery.

She insisted on another, and this time she was asked to see if she could manage a long-distance sprint. The goal was to catch a deer, a stag with silver antlers. Phoebe, a daughter of Hermes from the Dark Ages, volunteered.

Thalia Grace overruled her, and elbowed Piper in the face immediately when the race was called. Apparently, she caught, trussed, and brought the deer back before Piper stopped being dizzy. It was a new record, according to Phoebe.

But Artemis did not look pleased.

_Aphrodite was not pleased. _

_Piper was her favorite for a reason, and this moping was getting out of hand. Yes, it was a waste, Jason's death. Yes, it was a major backfire on the part of the gods to pull together so many different heroes and just expect them to get along. Not like anyone expected the Olympians to cooperate, why should their children be different?_

_Damn it! Wasn't that human… 'social gene' or whatnot supposed to take care of the stupid antisocial… not DNA that the gods had? She'd have to ask Athena about it, it sounded technical and boring._

_No… no, she had to talk to Hera. She'd be willing to make a deal, anniversary was coming up and even though it would be hilarious for Zeus to take another lover on Hera's special day, her child's happiness was more important._

_Piper totally owed her, big time._

Piper owed Artemis, big time.

She's not sure why the goddess took pity on her. She certainly deserved everything that Thalia was giving her. Every humiliation, ever bit of pain, seemed to be a reasonable price to pay for letting down the world and the gods.

But the goddess stepped in during a debate with Thalia that somehow became a brutal beat-down. An effective, if not recommended strategy for winning a debate.

A new challenge was suggested, as Piper had a dagger and Thalia her knives.

So she had to win a knife-fight to join the secret society where she'd be respected again... Piper guessed that was kind of awesome.

Nope, not awesome, it was horrifying.

And maybe it was all the more surprising when she won.

"_Please?"_

"_No."_

"_Please?"_

"_No."_

"_Please?"_

"_We're both immortal, we both can do this forever, and I haven't given up on anything unlike you." _

"… _Please?"_

"_If I let one mortal use my sacred waters, all mortals will want to use it." _

"_Well, maybe you should charge." _

"_That… I'm going to pretend that isn't… NO." _

"_Maybe I shouldn't let any of the other goddesses wear my girdle. Would that be fair?"_

"… _I'll think about it." _

It didn't take a genius to look at Thalia's new scar and hateful glares at Piper to know that they were never really friends and were now at best deadly rivals.

Steadily though, she had earned the trust of the rest of the Hunt. If someone told her years ago that she'd feel most at home running through the woods with a bow and arrow, she'd have bitch-slapped a racist upside the head.

Well, she would owe a racist with premonitions an apology. Being with the Hunt was more than just… hunting. It was like you had already caught your objective, already reached your goal.

You were faster, stronger, you felt more connected to the world around you.

Little things caught you differently… like the note of pride or triumph in a wolf howling. The sound of a deer as it sniffs its fawn, filled with love and tenderness. Some were actually pretty unpleasant, like the hostility of a bear or wolverine that lingered on trees it marked. Or the surprisingly omnicidal urges of an earthworm. But some gave her hope. Her favorite by far had to be the sheer stubborn drive of a turtle as it moved its entire life as a burden, only to be stronger for it.

The only thing that gave her cause for worry was whether or not the rest of the Hunt would come to fully accept her. As it so happened, that moment came when a hiker stumbled upon their camp grounds.

This hiker, who happened out to be very male, was in the presence of Artemis.

It spelled disaster. But at the same time, why should it? Piper didn't see what the problem was. The man did nothing wrong, he obviously lived nearby in some old cabin or lodge, he wasn't intruding on anything that Artemis couldn't make him forget…

The wolves were growling and the bows were being pulled back.

Yeah, no way was she going to sit by and let this happen.

She reached him before the arrows were drawn back, or the wolves could howl. Voice layered in charmspeak, she told him to go home. To forget what he saw and never question why the night was a blank.

He did so and the rest of the Hunt looked on curiously, some accusatory, clear that this had never happened before. She couldn't tell what most of them were thinking.

No one seemed to know how to feel except perhaps Artemis, who was nodding. She radiated fierce approval.

Then it was called for the bathing. It was a warm night and still deep streams were nearby.

Even if it wasn't entirely logical, Piper still wasn't quite comfortable with the 'bathing together' part of being in the Hunt, so she found a more secluded spot and dove in…

… _And when she resurfaced, Aphrodite knew her daughter was whole, cleansed again._

_It felt glorious, and that was just the feelings she radiated. _

"_Remind me why you think it's necessary for your daughter to use my sacred rivers?" Hera snapped, watching with loathing. _

"_I didn't tell you why I thought it was necessary." Aphrodite reminded simply, doing her nails. "Can't a mother randomly be nice to her children? Have their best interests at heart? Oh wait I forgot who I was talking to."_

"_You have an ulterior motive." _

"… _Doesn't everybody?"_

Nothing shameful in admitting it, Piper squeaked in surprise when Artemis appeared right next to her in the water. She tensed, waiting for her new patron to say something, anything. Nothing was said and Artemis just lounged in the water like a jungle cat. She was easily more lithe and graceful than any human had a right to be and was an oddly comforting presence, at first.

But then they started talking. Conversation felt stilted, forced, and it made Piper's mouth dry.

"-I know what it's like to feel responsible for the death of someone you love." Artemis finally admitted.

That confused Piper for a while, before she thought of something that made sense. Artemis was immortal and had been around for centuries… no, millennia. And she cared about her Hunters, probably remembered every single one of them.

"It must be rough."

An enigmatic smile from Artemis, "He was worth it."

"'He'? B-but I thought…" She tried hard to remember anything from her movie-based trivia on Artemis, but she was always a virgin goddess who had long forsaken the company of men.

"A daughter of Aphrodite risking wrinkles?"

Piper blinked, and then felt the furrow of her brow, blushing. "Some of us are more than scenery."

"I didn't say you weren't." Artemis added, almost apologetically. That caught Piper more off-guard than when the goddess joined her in the water. "And I don't think that of your mother even if we have… disagreements."

"That's… putting it mildly."

"I like your brother, despite job differences. He's just a different type of Hunter." She frowned. "A spoiled rotten one…"

"Mitchell?"

One, two blinks of confusion before Artemis laughed. "No, Eros… or do you know him better as Cupid?"

"Oh…" Even though it was foolish, Piper had to ask. "Who's the better archer?"

"Me. I never miss." There was something distinctly wolfish about Artemis' smile. "Ask Eros about Queen Elizabeth and he always changes the subject… loudly."

It was Piper's turn to laugh. She stopped when she noticed Artemis' face, suddenly solemn. She made to get out of the water, and though it was boldness that verged on suicidal, Piper grasped her hand tightly. Asked what was wrong, assuring that she was now and forever friend and servant.

For the first time in a century, Artemis described Orion, and a shot she wished she missed.

_It was perfect. _

_Clearly one of the better punishments that Aphrodite had recently come up with, and who remembered Tiresias anyway? _

_That snake Octavian might, he was a self-important augur anyway just like Tiresias. So he'd be able to appreciate his upcoming situation._

_Octavian was going to have to drop that 'n' and be Octavia. You screw with a daughter of Aphrodite you get to feel like a daughter of Aphrodite. No, wouldn't be right to just evaporate the dangly-bits and call that scarecrow a proper woman. No, she'd have to have much better hair, longer too. And more curves than a San Francisco street. Jupiter would get a kick out of his augur getting a sudden upgrade inside the temple…_

… _Jupiter would jump right on that business. Oh. Ohhhh that would be so deliciously __**perfect**__! She'd get things going right away in the Temple, things would get so wrong but so hot… forget her promise to Hera, she'd make up for it with… oh, making Annabeth Chase bisexual or a brunette something awkward and embarrassing. Hera still hated Athena's daughter, didn't she? Oh of course she did, she couldn't let anything go._

_Wait a minute, was she missing the show? She had to check!_

In the end, Piper managed to get out from her fall from Grace. More importantly, she was the one who got the goddess to open up. Something she previously never dared do. And there was such temptation.

Piper had it right. Artemis was most definitely wolfish, or cat-like or… something not quite (more than) human. Her tongue felt rough but dexterous. It contrasted sharply with the smoothness and the radiating heat from her skin. Just like with the powers given along with the Hunt, it was the sharpness of the feelings that blew Piper's mind. Each kiss felt like confession, of long repression finally set free. Each caress radiated want but fearful uncertainty. Each sigh was guilt being assuaged. And every moan that Artemis let slip was almost like a goddesses willing surrender.

Finally certain of her purpose, giving into need, Piper pressed forward into what was uncharted for them both. She wanted more of those feelings, these sensations, the noises… To Hades if the other Hunters heard. The goddess could do whatever she pleased and she was pleased with Piper McLean, wasn't she?

She had to be sure. Piper would press on until she could make her Lady howl like the wolves, with primeval triumph in every note.

_Victory really did taste sweet. Long awaited victory was almost as good as ambrosia._

_Aphrodite set aside the cursed stuffed snake for Octavian, cursing upstarts could wait. She wanted to savor this moment. She wanted to fix in her head every instant of her masterpiece, her grand symphony, the greatest show yet preformed in her circus of carnal and emotional turmoil. _

Oh yes, there was definitely a reason Piper was Aphrodite's favorite.

_Ω_


End file.
